The idea of a local Civil Rights Heritage Site was inspired by a visit to the Kelly Ingram Park in Birmingham, Alabama during our Race Convoy in April, 2017. Our own Civil Rights Park, commemorating the lives of local civil rights activists, will allow the Black community to find its own voice, in the telling of its own story.
The Baden Park will be the site of the Rochester Heritage Site. A location within the 14605 community was chosen, Rev. Myra Brown of the Spiritus Christi Anti-Racism Coalition said, because “so much history and struggle for freedom and equity happened here.” This area, also known as Upper Falls and Marketview Heights, is “where grassroots organizing helped Black families coming up from the South,” she said.
The 14605 neighborhood, furthermore, has historical significance because it is where the riots of 1964 began. This three-day uprising arose out of frustration over horrific housing conditions, high unemployment, and structural barriers to progress. There would be much work to do after the uprising — and much work remains today.1
It is especially fitting that this work was being initiated in 2018, the year that Rochester celebrates the 200th anniversary of the birth of Frederick Douglass, renowned abolitionist, human rights advocate, writer, orator, and statesman. “A Heritage Site,” Rev. Brown says, “gives voice and visibility to the story of the Rochester Black community’s struggle for liberation and equity on this soil, from the historically significant work of Frederick Douglass, to the groundbreaking initiatives of FIGHT [Freedom, Independence, God, Honor, Today], the activist group begun here after the uprising and led by Minister Franklin Florence, to the current Black Lives Matter movement.”
Part of our job as a community, she suggests, is to “question injustice, to explore the links to historical racism, and to work collaboratively to heal past mistakes that have locked us into generational disparities and silencing.” The Rochester Heritage Site could give rise to “meaningful conversations,” conversations that would help us, as a community, “align ourselves in a way that can provide more compassionate social justice and equity.”
Local leaders will be making the decisions about the specifics of a Civil Rights Heritage Site that will have a home in the 14605 neighborhood.
1 Mark Hare, City Newspaper, “Riots still haunt Rochester: 50 years later, fear still shapes our community,” July 16, 2014; James Goodman, Brian Sharp, Democrat and Chronicle, “Riots spawned FIGHT, other community efforts,” July 20, 2014; Carvin Eison, July ’64, documentary, 2006.
Jul 9, 2019